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The Battalion
Page 3 • Tuesday, March 23, 2004
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By Robert Saucedo
THE BATTALION
Midnight Yell. Elephant Walk. Twelfth man. These are all tra-
itions that Aggies know by heart, which halve been taught and rein-
orced since freshman year. Kelly Sullivan, a senior chemical engi-
eering major, would like to remind Aggies of another tradition —
lster al* ogo boldly where many Aggies have gone before — AggieCon.
Aggiecon, the largest student-run science fiction convention, is
n annual event hosted by Cepheid Variable, the on-campus science-
iction/fantasy/horror programming committee. On March 26 to the
,the second floor of the MSC will see all manners of men and
romen mingling alongside with Klingons, Stormtroopers and other
' reatures of fantasy as the 35th annual AggieCon gets underway.
“We started in 1969, when a large group of kids who were real-
size a; ^interested in Star Trek decided they wanted to make a hobby - a
roup-out of their interest,” Sullivan said.
Since the beginning, Cepheid Variable’s yearly schedule has
rsit y 111 irbited around AggieCon.
“It actually didn't start out as a convention. It started off as a dinner
janel. It was co-sponsored by the English department,” Sullivan said.
In the beginning, AggieCon was primarily used to show old sci-
nce-fiction movies, but with the advent of VCRs, it now focuses
nore on literary guests.
“As times change, AggieCon has also evolved with the coming
T-Jrowd. Reflecting that, this year we have a much larger gaming
ection. We have a really large computer gaming room. We’ve
een a much larger demand for anime. Aggiecon has gone from a
. small literary discussion to something that’s really big,”
SU ? ) f,■Sullivan said.
With a yearly attendance of approximately 12 to 15,000 people,
\ggieCon has grown into a carnival-like display of genres.
"It’s moving much more - guest-wise - toward a literary con
tention. Our guests of honor this year are Todd McCaffrey and
lacqueline Carey,” said Alexis Tucker, a junior chemical engineer-
major and AggieCon director.
Todd McCaffrey’s mother. Anne McCaffrey, is the creator of the
’em series, a collection of books that deals with a world where
dragons and humans live together. The younger McCaffrey recent
ly co-authored a book in the series, “Dragon’s Kin,” with his moth-
erandwill continue writing stories in the series.
Jacqueline Carey is the author of the Kushiel trilogy of books.
Besides the literary guests, there will also be two large gaming
rooms available.
It’s open 24 hours and in the basement of the MSC. It’s the type
of games you’d normally play online like Halo and also the live
gaming section,” Tucker said. “We have everything from live-action
role-playing games to tabletop games. One of the big things
this year is that the (Role Playing Game Association), the
national organization for Dungeons and Dragons will be
hosting a big regional event.”
There will also be a free anime room, two showings
of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Friday and
Saturday night and a collection of panels.
The Texas Aggie Game Developers will be doing a
panel. (Ruben DeLuna is going to come with some of
‘The Battalion’ cartoonists and do
some panels.
Andy Baldwin, a graduate engi
neering technology student in
charge of public relations for
Cepheid Variable, is looking forward
to the charity auction benefitting
Scotty’s House
“We had a contest to design the
program book and we’ll be auc
tioning off some of the original
finalist artwork,” said Tucker.
“Unfortunately, all the cool stuff
reminds me that I’m a college stu
dent. There’s just too much stuff
to buy.”
AggieCon features a variety of
ordinary activities — with an
extra hint of imagination.
“The masquerade ball is where people come dressed in costumes
and everybody can come to a two-hour dance,” Tucker said. “We
had somebody call us to make sure it was OK to wear helmets in the
MSC ... We always have a few Klingons every year. We even have
a guy who dresses up as a sex robot.”
The part of AggieCon Sullivan said she looks forward to is work
ing the convention.
“I know it’s not a thing a lot of people look forward to doing, but
by working I’ve learned a lot about troubleshooting. As an attendee
you get to meet the guests, but as a worker you really get to meet the
guests. You get to sit there and talk to them.”
As AggieCons come and go, stories are added to the growing col
lection of lore surrounding this Aggie tradition.
“We have a lot of stories that we don't necessarily want people to
know about,” Sullivan said. “We had Walter Koenig, who played
Chekov on the original Star Trek series come about a decade and a half
ago. As lore goes, Chekov disappeared. We didn’t see him all Saturday.
He showed up at about 2 o’clock on Sunday and said ‘I have no idea
where I've been, but I had a pretty good time.’ As best as we can gath
er, he hopped from frat party to frat party. We’re just wondering if peo
ple kept on asking him to tell them about the ‘nuclear vessels’ again.”
AggieCon has also become a reunion of sorts for past Cepheid
Variable members.
“We have a couple of seniors who are leaving, and I get sad and
tell them I don't want them to leave,” Tucker said. “They say ‘Don’t
worry. I'll be back for the Con.’”
AggieCon sets Texas A&M apart from other schools.
“I think it's interesting that the other school up the road in Austin
prides itself on being a hippie-liberal school, and they don't even have
a science-fiction club,” Baldwin said.
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THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY STUDENT MEDIA BOARD
IS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR
Editor
The Battalion
— Including radio and online editions —
Summer 2004
(The summer editor will serve
May 24 through Aug. 11,2004)
Fall 2004
(The fall editor will serve
Aug. 16 through Dec. 15, 2004)
Qualifications for editor in chief of The Battalion are:
• Be a Texas A&M student in good standing with the University and enrolled in at least six credit hours (4 if a
graduate student) during the term of office (unless fewer credits are required to graduate);
• Have at least a 2.00 cumulative grade point ratio (3.00 if a graduate student) and at least a 2.00 grade
point ratio (3.00 if a graduate student) in the semester immediately prior to the appointment, the semester
of appointment and semester during the term of office. In order for this provision to be met, at least six
hours (4 if a graduate student) must have been taken for that semester;
• Have completed JOUR 301 (Mass Communication, Law and Society), or equivalent;
• Have at least one year experience in a responsible editorial position on The Battalion or comparable daily
college newspaper,
-OR-
Have at least one year editorial experience on a commercial newspaper,
-OR-
Have completed at least 12 hours journalism, including JOUR 203 and 303 (Media Writing I and II), and
JOUR 304 (Editing for the Mass Media), or equivalent.
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Aggieland
2005
Qualifications for editor in chief of the Aggieland yearbook are:
• Be a Texas A&M student in good standing with the University and enrolled in at least six credit hours (4 if a
graduate student) during the term of office (unless fewer credits are required to graduate);
• Have at least a 2.00 cumulative grade point ratio (3.00 if a graduate student) and at least a 2.00 grade
point ratio (3.00 if a graduate student) in the semester immediately prior to the appointment, the semester
of appointment and semester during the term of office. In order for this provision to be met, at least six
hours (4 if a graduate student) must have been taken for that semester;
• Have completed JOUR 301 (Mass Communication, Law and Society) and JOUR 302 (Graphics), or
equivalent;
• Have demonstrated ability in writing through university coursework or equivalent experience;
• Have at least one year experience in a responsible position on the Aggieland or comparable college
yearbook.
Application forms should be picked up and returned to Dell Bomnskie, Student Media business
coordinator, in Room 011A Reed McDonald Building. Deadline for submitting application: noon
Tuesday, March 23, 2004. Applicants vyill be interviewed during the Student Media Board Meeting
beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, March 25, 2004, in room 221F Reed McDonald.
An Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer Committed to Diversity